Starting Fresh
by Flawless438
Summary: Lip Gallagher and Riley O'Hare had only heard of each other from birth. It had taken them a full 20 years to meet in a place neither of them wanted to be - rehab. The two of them help each other recuperate and work with the hand they'd been dealt even though they are both reluctant to start relationships.
1. First Day

Lip never wanted to get to this point. He felt that everything that he had tried to build fell apart with one swig of amber liquor. He could say that it's because of his blood; the Gallagher gene runs strong in his veins and it's nothing he would be willing to deny, but all of a sudden one drink turned to a whole pitcher that turned into too many shots that turned into a constant state of inebriation. Youens told him to "work the steps," something he wasn't sure he wanted to do. Could he even get a job when he got out of this place? Could he even really bounce back? Too many thoughts swarmed his head when being admitted, and then everything calmed down when he saw her.

Riley had gotten the full talk from all of her coworkers. They all thought that she was too important to let go of, especially with all that she had done for the University's Teacher's Assistant Program. Her family life had taken over her and she didn't know how things had gotten as dark as they had. She worked hard during the week and even harder on the weekends, constantly driving her to drink away her problems in secret. Her grades held for as long as they could until she'd collapsed from drinking her meals for three weeks straight. Jason thought it was bulimia, the reason all she did was throw up and work out, but Anne knew it was from her inability to keep her stress out of a bottle. Ultimately, Dean Orndoff decided she take a leave of absence to work on herself, medically.

The 24 newly-admitted patients were instructed to pack all of their belongings into their new rooms, the places they would lay their heads for as long as it took them to understand the 12-step process and make it through safely.

Riley didn't much like sharing rooms, so she was pleasantly surprised when they'd been informed of the fact that each of them could each have their own room. She threw her bags down on the floor and sat on the bed as her stomach grumbled from the lack of nutrition. _Only three meals a day with two snacks in between_ , she thought to herself. She knew that she would have to satiate her cravings somehow and knew that she could look to her favorite substance to provide comfort. The green nuggets had been wrapped in plastic bags all day, waiting for her to take her first hit in a week. The hospital told her to look into smoking again, saying that it would help her eat more and get her weight back up to the healthy 130-pound weight that it should be for her 5'6" medium build. Weed was her only vice, besides alcohol, and she had managed to get a special approval for carrying it in the facility since it was, in some way, for medicinal purposes.

Lip allowed his mind to wander, occasionally looking over to the digital clock on his bedside table for reference. At some point he'd fallen asleep, only to wake up to a familiar scent coming from his balcony. He walked out to see his neighbor taking several hits from the bowl she had tightly packed and just stood in admiration.

"You share?" Lip asked.

"Not usually. I can always learn to make exceptions, though." Riley became closer and closer to the perfect high with the more hits she took. Maybe she was too far gone, but it looked like the greedy stranger was climbing over his balcony to her. "You're ambitious," she drew, handing him the materials.

"If we are gonna survive in this hellhole, we might as well learn to coexist."

"If by 'coexist,' you mean support each other in this incredibly unfortunate endeavor towards ultimate recovery, you've got another thing coming. I'm in to get out and get back to my life."

"You really think it'll be that easy?" Lip's skepticism slowly became clearer while his mind became cloudier.

"I fucking hope so. I've worked way too hard to just let my life fall away because of a few drinks."

"A few? I'm thinking it's been more than a few to get you here."

"Think so? And what about you? Mister 'I wear tight jeans in obscure colors because it makes me look remotely stylish'?"

Lip chuckled at the young delinquent. He reminded her a lot of the people in his hometown. "There isn't much style choice where I come from. Money's kinda tight for me and my family. I guess all of that school and family bullshit caught up to me and now I'm supposed to regret it."

"I don't know if you're forced to regret your actions, but you're definitely required to feel something towards them, especially since all you've done is end up here."

"Maybe to them, but to me it was a way to not feel everything I've felt for too long."

"I'd drink to that. Or is that too soon?"

The two chuckled and continued their night talking about nonsense from favorite constellations to places they'd love to travel. The sky had become lighter while their highs faded and Riley's stomach began to grumble.

"I've got snacks, if you want some?" Lip looked at the young girl practically ignore him, piquing his curiosity about her eating habits.

"Uh, nah, I'm good. I'll wait until breakfast and just get some sleep. It was nice meeting you." Riley walked to her bed when Lip stopped her in her tracks.

"I don't think you should go to bed on an empty stomach, especially with trace amounts of the munchies."

"Look, man, I don't even know your name and you're already trying to run me. I'm assuming you don't work here, so don't try to work me into the steps, okay? It's not your job so fuck off and good night."

"It's Lip, Riley. Lip Gallagher."

"I could've guessed that." Riley trudged back into her room and shut the smell of weed and Lip's unfortunately sweet smelling odor with her as she changed into pajamas and tucked in for the night. She'd taken a few of her sister's homemade lemon bars with her and scarfed one down quickly, chasing it with the grape juice she had left over from the long journey to the facility.

Lip scoffed at her inability to appreciate his offer, but just hopped back over the balcony back to his bed and pulled out a bag of chips, finishing them off with water before heading to bed.

The two 20-somethings had soft spots for each other but were more focused on sleeping before enduring whatever was going to come their way in the next day's activities.


	2. Admission: Part 1

_"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable."_

With the sunrise came knocks on doors and bed checks, insurance that no inpatient had run out into night without the program director's knowledge.

Glenn Daniels had been running the program at Silk Meadows for a short 5 years, but she had seen almost every type of patient. This new group seemed unfortunately young, though she wasn't there to judge.

Glenn gathered all 24 of the new members into the dining hall for a glorious spread of the best breakfast foods. She greeted each tired face at the door, handing them their respective name tag and a table number. She didn't particularly enjoy the fact that she had to assign tables to force members to interact, but she was willing to go along with the job in the hopes of helping each member get healthier.

Her eyes fell particularly on Riley O'Hare. The calm and collected college student hadn't been completely ecstatic to be a part of the program - not that any of them really were - and Glenn knew that there would be an interesting sense of unwillingness as the days progressed. She watched Riley smile apathetically and take her seat at her table without immediately going to get food. Glenn had read about Riley's slippery slope of a condition from the testimonials her colleagues had given. She had begun to completely liquify her meals and never ate a single solid food which kept her in a perpetual state of unrest.

The tables were draped with ivory tablecloths, each distinct factor being the table card in the center differentiating one group from the other. Riley's mind had been uncharacteristically clear and dull since arriving at Silk Meadows, so much so that she hadn't thought twice about keeping up appearances to get some type of food from the generous feast.

"You should totally get some of this." Her name tag read 'Bobbi Hapstall', the voice that came from across the table. "Probably the best breakfast I've had since moving out. Sorry, I'm Bobbi - Barbara, actually, but I fucking hate that name. Like, do I look like a First Lady?"

Riley chuckled softly and got up to get food from the buffet. As luck would have it, the conversational stranger, Lip, from the night before was right in front of her.

"Morning, Gallagher." She figured pleasantries were probably in order from the cold exit she'd given him.

"So you're eating now?"

"Good morning to you too, Riley. Did you sleep well? I slept okay, thanks for asking."

Lip laughed softly. "I don't sound like that, cupcake." He took his plate filled with mostly eggs and bacon and slid by the young girl to sit down at his table.

Riley looked at the intimidating spread and tried her best to take only a few things that would be convincing enough to be considered a meal. Fruit, muffin, bagel, bacon. _This looks convincing enough. Who really gives a shit since we are all here faking normal, right?_ The youngest O'Hare took her food back to her table and took the most believable bite out of each thing that she could before pushing it in front of her.

"You gonna finish that?" This time the voice came from her left.

"Uh, no. I'm pretty full." The line usually worked on most people.

"Full, huh?" This stranger looked her dead in the eyes, something she wasn't accustomed to.

"That's what I said."

He leaned over and began to whisper in her ear. "I would suggest you try to finish a bit more. Glenn has been watching you since you sat down. I'm Harry, by the way." Harry extended his hand which caused his name tag to be visible. Riley read 'Assistant Director' on the sub-header, causing her to scoff and finish the fruit on her plate.

Glenn walked to the front of the room and began her usual speech welcoming the members to their "biggest lifestyle change." Lip had tuned her and everything else out the moment he sat down. He wasn't too big of a fan of new surroundings, but always welcomed them anyway.

He didn't want to think about her but he did. He can't ignore the fact that his drinking got as bad as it did after they stopped seeing each other frequently. The very thought of Helene made him question his ability to stay sober. His eyes unintentionally drifted to the natural-haired girl on his left. Luckily, she hadn't felt him watching her as intently as he was, because he almost dropped the plate he had propped on his knee when he stood up.

The group were instructed to go to the room in which they would be having most of their meetings to start to get to know each other. Riley sat closest to the door, in between Bobbi and Harry since she seemed familiar enough with the both of them and didn't much like the feeling of circles.

"Alright, everyone!" Glenn's serious-yet-perky tone emanated through the eerily quiet room. "You already know me, but for all intents and purposes of this group session, I will start with my introduction. Hi, I'm Glenn."

"Hi, Glenn." Harry, sitting to Riley's left, chirped.

"Thanks, Harry. I'm 26 years old and I'm from St. Louis. I'm here because I look forward to helping you all get closer to the best and healthiest versions of you." Glenn looked to her right and urged the next girl to introduce herself.

"Hi, I'm Anabel," this one's voice was calm but confident, "I'm from Dallas originally, but I go to UChicago and I'm here because I'm tired of the way my life is and I want to be happy."

"Great, thanks, Anabel." Glenn's periodic commentary helped bring Lip back each time his mind drifted away from the task at hand. He wasn't fond of the whole icebreaker thing, but took Youens advice and just went along with all of the bullshit regardless.

"Hey, I'm Lip. Well, my real name's Philip, but just call me Lip. I'm from South Side and I'm here because I want my life to be normal again." Immediately after his introduction, he zoned out again, ignoring the looks from the other members and pulled back in when Riley spoke up.

"Hi, I'm Riley, I'm from South Side originally, but I live in North Center now. I'm here because I want my job back." As she finished her introduction, she locked eyes with Lip who suddenly seemed to remember that they had known each other when they were kids.

"Well, now that everybody is familiar with each other, I want to introduce the item that will be the biggest thing in your lives for however long you all will be here and that's this book dedicated to AA. It's essentially your AA Bible and you are to treat it with respect because it will have all of the necessary reading and life stuff related to your journey with us. With that said, by tomorrow, I want you to have read the introduction and the first chapter and we will discuss it in group session then. Other than that, if you have any questions about the rules here, just let me know and you're all dismissed."

As soon as those final words were spoken, the entire group got up except Riley, Glenn, Harry, and Lip. Lip walked over to Riley and extended his hand, as if to help her up.

"North Center, huh? That's quite an upgrade from V's house, isn't it?"

"So he remembers me, then?" Riley chuckled and took his hand as they started back upstairs to their rooms.

"Of course. You were the nerd with the stocky brothers the Milkovich's had always been scared of."

"Well, we can't all be the unsuspecting genius like you, Lip. I got tired of Mandy always copying my homework, anyway."

Lip stopped. "You knew Mandy?"

Riley scoffed. "Who didn't? She tried to get me to tutor her in Calc, but she ended up just letting her mind wander. I can't say I'm surprised you asked."

"You know about us, then?"

"Duh."

"I actually saw her the other day, she was dressed all fancy and shit. I thought I'd seen a ghost or something."

"I heard she's doing well, so there's no need to worry."

"I'm not worried, I'm just -"

"Worried." Riley chuckled and opened the door to her room and grabbed a pack of cigarettes. "Wanna smoke? I need a walk."

"I love contraband."

The two laughed as they talked and walked out of the facility.

 **I thought I would split each major part of the AA steps up to make the story a bit longer and more realistic. This chapter is barely an introduction to the first step which is why it has 'Part 1' in it. I think each step will have at least 3 parts since I want them to spread over around one week or so to seem as long. I hope you enjoy this world I've created and the next chapter will be a "Meet The Author"/"Meet The Story" type of deal. xx, Flawless438**


	3. Meet Me and the Story!

Hey there, I'm Flawless438! I'm an amateur writer and storyteller/lover. I love Shameless (US), Suits, MisFits (UK), Luther (UK), and a bunch of other shows. I'm a sucker for super dark shows that make me think and draw me in. I always tell myself that if I'm not thinking about characters and their stories after watching a show, I don't really like it, so I keep that in mind whenever I watch anything new.I have one published story on here, but I don't want to finish it because I got bored with the story, so I figured I should just tried my hand at something else. This fic is also up there because I might as well see how well it does across the board.

I got the inspiration for this story, obviously, from the last season of Shameless and the fact that Lip is basically on the verge and, since being given an ultimatum from Youens, has to find some kind of release from rehab so he can bounce back into real life. I am always thinking about the ways that characters can react to the situations that they've been given and I can't think of any better way to do that than to write out everything that I have in mind.

I'm thinking Riley is adopted, but I haven't fully decided yet. I really want her to be more on the ethnic side because it's just what's in my mind and it's totally possible for almost anyone to be Irish, so that shouldn't have too much to do with continuity. I was really thinking Zoe Kravitz because she's super edgy and really interesting, which I feel would be the same qualities Riley has.

 **Riley O'Hare**

Age: 20

Occupation: College Student, Head Teacher's Assistant

Studies: Major in Economics, Minor in Math; 3.89 Cumulative GPA

Cause of Rehab: Repeated inebriation at work with promise of returning to her job after completion of steps.

I'm really excited to delve into the depths of this story and explore Riley and Lip's relationship and childhood connection (will definitely make this up/explore it as I go along). I think the biggest intrigue in Riley that Lip has is her strange connection to Mandy Milkovich.


End file.
